I struggled to get the kids off to school. I talked myself into getting ready for work. I packed lunches, checked backpacks, planned crock pot meals, and wished I was somewhere else. Yes, that's right. I wished I was somewhere other than my kitchen listening to my children fight over the last pack of fruit snacks. I dreamt about a life that was less stressful and more enjoyable. These thoughts made me cry on the way to drop off my kids at school. These thoughts made me feel like a terrible person.These thoughts made me feel like I was the worst Mother on the planet. I was ashamed to have these thoughts. I felt like I was failing at life. I was overworked, under appreciated, and dreaming of wanting more. Why wasn't I happy? Life seemed to be a chronic shit storm and I was the imbecilic meteorologist who forgot her umbrella. I decided that I needed to chase my dreams. I decided I had to find a way to scoop the poop and find my passion.

    We answer a colleague's questions from the stands at a child's soccer game; we pay the bills while watching TV; we order groceries while stuck in traffic. In a time when no one seems to have enough time, our devices allow us to be many places at once--but at the cost of being unable to fully inhabit the place where we actually want to be. Mindfulness says we can do better. This TIME Spotlight Story explores The Art of Mindfulness.

    In 1942 Elizabeth Bynam Sanders was a young woman who left home under false pretenses and travelled to Our Lady of Victory, a home for unwed mothers in upstate New York. Shortly after surrendering her daughter for adoption, she returned to her life in Johnston County, North Carolina. She never married and never had another child of her own. This powerful and moving memoir speaks of the profound need for connection. It is a story about identity, the hunger we feel for a sense of belonging and the ineffable significance of blood.

    Probing ancient Christian practices for renewal, Almost Holy Mama chronicles one mom's quest to discover an answer to her most pressing question: Can God use the challenges of parenthood to grow your character?You long to spend time with God and catch your spiritual breath, but you find yourself honestly wondering--how and when? Ellis gets its. It's hard to carve out space for a quiet moment with God, let alone a quiet time! Instead of adding more tasks to your plate, Almost Holy Mama will help you integrate your spiritual practices into your daily life. From studying Scripture in the shower to listening in prayer at the foot of Laundry Mountain, Ellis finds that meeting God in sacred disciplines can breathe new life into one of life's most joy-filled and trying seasons.Paperback, 256 pages, 5.5 x 8.5 inches, ISBN 9781628627909. Table of Contents:Running on Empty, Longing for More Car Rides & Contemplation: Finding Jesus on the Freeways Sleepytime & Service: Sacrificial Love at the End of a Long Day Eating & the Examen: Finding God at the Dinner Table Laundry & Listening Prayer: Because Sometimes the Voice of God Sounds a Lot like the Dryer Showering with Scripture: Wash over Me, Lord Fasting from Facebook: Giving Up to Gain Suffering & Stillness: Because Sometimes All You Can Do Is Nothing Getting Ready with Gratitude: Thanksgiving amid Chaos Travel & Pilgrimage: Going Away and Coming Home Ceasing & Celebration: Discovering the Playful God Almost Holy, Fully Loved: Where Do We Go from Here? Perfect for:Parents Gifts for expecting parents Single mother/father groups Foster parents and guardians Pastors and counselors And more About the Author Courtney Ellis serves as associate pastor for spiritual formation and mission at Presbyterian Church of the Master. She holds degrees from Wheaton College, Loyola University of Chicago, and Princeton Theological Seminary, and has been published in Marriage/Partnership, Rock & Ice Magazine, and Christianity Today Women. She's a contributor at The Glorious Table and The Mighty. Courtney is a sought-after speaker for leadership and women's retreats, MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers), and young adult ministries. She's a gifted storyteller with strengths in bringing parents, marrieds, singles, and millennials together. Courtney lives in southern California with her husband (and co-pastor) Daryl and their children.

    When you are the mother of boys, it seems like this question is on a continuous tape loop in your head. Humor columnist Sharon O’Donnell knows this feeling. In House of Testosterone, she chronicles her adventures raising three sons and reining in her über-male, forgetful husband, Kevin. She shares her stories of welcoming her third son into the world, resisting the gravitational pull of the “guy zone,” and running a household immersed in a world of sports, bathroom humor, and laundry. O’Donnell’s spirit shines through as she struggles to find some “me time” or survive another comical family vacation.These entertaining episodes of child- (and husband-) rearing lovingly illustrate why Sharon calls herself “Lady of the House of Testosterone.”

    But when she was in her late twenties, she realized that she had a strong need to know the woman who had given birth to her. She was able to locate her birth mother, Sarah, and they developed a strong attachment.But Sarah set one painful condition to this joyous new relationship: she wished to keep it - to keep Caitriona - secret from her family, from her friends, from everyone.Who was Sarah, and why did she want to preserve a decades-old secret? An Affair with My Mother tells the story of Caitriona's quest to answer these questions, and of the intense, furtive 'affair' she and her mother conducted in carefully chosen locations around Dublin. By turns heartwarming and heartbreaking, An Affair with My Mother is a searing portrait of the social and familial forces that left Sarah - and so many other unwed Irish mothers of her generation - frightened, traumatized and bereft. It is also a beautifully written account of a remarkable relationship.'Caitriona Palmer has called out the false shame of her origins, with a kind of anguished courage that is incredibly moving. An Affair With My Mother is a forensic account of how it feels to be - in the interests of Catholic "respectability" - excluded from the facts of your own life. In its commitment to family love, to joy and truth, it is a gift.' Anne Enright, winner of the Man Booker Prize

    Raised in a small, white New England town, she grew up with a persistent longing. After a five-year search marked by disappointment, she finds her birth mother and a half-sister named Sarah, the name originally given to her. When she locates her birth father and several of his eleven other children, she is then confronted with a revelation that threatens to destabilize all she has uncovered. In telling of her struggles, McKinley challenges us to rethink our own preconceptions about race, loyalty, and love.

    Their first ten years together included Domingo’s alcoholism and abuse, and Irene’s desperate prayers for answers. Then a miracle happened: Domingo pleaded for forgiveness. As God healed their marriage, Irene and Domingo adopted a little girl. And a new season began for an imperfect couple who were willing to say yes to each other and to God. Over the past forty-five years, the Garcias have birthed, fostered, or adopted thirty-two children. Their story holds difficult endings as well as promising new beginnings. Above all, their story reminds us what can happen when ordinary people submit to God’s call. Rich in Love is about a family cemented in hope. About a need to love the orphan. And about a God who never, ever gives up.

    This is a week by week guide to what's happening to you and the baby, from choosing where to give birth, coping with nausea and understanding the tests you will need, to breastfeeding for the first time and adapting to life with a newborn. Kaz Cooke offers no bossy-boots rules, just the sanest, wittiest advice you'll ever get, plus lots of cartoons. This fully updated third edition includes news sections on Getting Ready: advice on trying for a baby and Fertility troubles and assisted conception: what might be causing fertility troubles and what you can do about it, plus the process of IVF or other assisted conception if it's needed. You'll find expanded sections on genetic problems, the caesarean debate, how to care for premature babies, choosing the right nappies for you plus information especially for partners from boosting their fertility to what they should do during labour. The Rough Guide to Pregnancy and Birth has everything you will need to know about the scary parts, the funny parts and your private parts.

    Written by Amy Eldridge, founder and CEO of Love Without Boundaries, this poignant chronicle of LWB's life-changing work, told through the stories of individual children, offers personal insight into the complex issues surrounding orphan care, abandonment, international aid, and adoption. Both thought-provoking and inspirational, "The Heart of an Orphan" reminds us all that while the needs of vulnerable children around the world may seem overwhelming, the human heart triumphs in believing that every life has value and every child deserves love.

    But despite one's good intentions, the life-enhancing abundance heaped on our children often becomes more than they need or can handle, and the line is crossed into overindulgence. In How Much is Enough?, best-selling parenting and family experts Clarke, Dawson, and Bredehoft offer an in-depth look at how damaging overindulgence is to children, affecting their ability to learn many of the important life skills they need to thrive as adults. In warm and empathetic language, the authors reveal the three different ways children are overindulged (giving too much, being over-nurturing, and providing soft structure), guide parents in determining whether they're doing something overindulgent, and show them how to do things differently. The truth is that overindulgence is not the badge of a bad parent; in fact, it comes directly from having a good and generous heart. Based on solid, groundbreaking research involving 1,200 parents and their children, How Much is Enough? gives parents the insight and advice they need to parent in an effective and loving way and put their children on track for a happy and successful life.

    I think I'm your birth mother."The phone call, wholly unexpected, instantly turned Sarah Saffian's world upside-down, threatening her sense of family, identity, self. Adopted as an infant twenty-three years before, living happily in New York, Sarah had been "found" by her biological parents despite her reluctance to embrace them.In this searing, lyrical memoir, Sarah chronicles her painful journey from confusion and anger to acceptance and, finally, reunion--but not until three soul-searching years had passed. In spare, luminous prose, Sarah Saffian crafts a powerful story of self-discovery and belonging--a deeply personal memoir told with grace, eloquence, and compassion. At once heartbreaking and profoundly uplifting, Ithaka is sure to touch anyone who has grappled with who they are.

    Toddler - the story of what happens when your little one is transformed from an innocent bundle of joy into a creature that walks, talks... and craps in a plastic bucket in the middle of your living room.Man vs Toddler exposes the lie that, that when it comes to parenting 'it gets easier'. But it is just as honest, foul-mouthed and heart-warming as Matt's first book, and will have you laughing and crying with recognition as he shares his observations and advice on everything from tantrums to the horrors of soft-play.

    Adapted for teens and students from Brennan Manning’s best-seller Abba’s Child, this book will help you see how God’s grace sets us free to be who we really are. No more games, no acts, no masks.Discover your identity in Christ and be set free.

    But that doesn’t make saying goodbye any easier. From the hit true storytelling podcast RISK! comes a beautiful and heart-aching memoir of a mother’s love.Mariah MacCarthy was a financially strapped playwright in Queens with two roommates. Nothing about that situation said Let’s add a baby to this. Nine months later, having Leo adopted by two gay dads was the most loving solution possible. All Mariah fears now is becoming a stranger. But as four lives are irrevocably changed, Mariah discovers that embracing the moment of farewell is just the beginning of a family story, by turns joyous and devastating.